A Facebook Account is No Longer Required to Use Messenger

Facebook took the last remaining step toward truly making Messenger its own platform, announcing today that people will be able to use the service without a Facebook account.

As long as you have at least a phone number, and live in either Canada, the United States, Peru or Venezuela, you will be able to sign up for Messenger regardless of whether or not you’re on Facebook.

Let’s face it, not everyone is a Facebook user — by uncoupling itself from Messenger, Facebook has the opportunity to reach even more users than it was able to before.

To that end, those who have never signed up for Facebook, and ex-members who have deactivated their account, will be able to communicate with their friends and family using one of the world’s most popular instant messaging services.

The company is still careful to communicate that there are benefits to signing up for Messenger with a Facebook account:

“People can easily message with their Facebook friends and contacts, access their Facebook messages and take advantage of multi-device messaging across mobile devices, the web and tablets.”

Starting today, new users of Messenger will be greeted with a welcome screen containing a new option that says “Not on Facebook?”

Tapping on that option will allow you can sign up with your name, phone number and a photo.